Friendship is Empathy
by Rowanoak23
Summary: Twilight Sparkle realizes that Rainbow Dash has been keeping a secret from her ever since the Mare Do Well incident. When she goes to confront her about it, she finds out more than she bargained for. Then Twilight reveals that she's been keeping something from her friends ever since the Royal Wedding. Harsh words have been spoken and a once strong friendship hangs in the balance.


**FRIENDSHIP IS EMPATHY**

& & &

It was early afternoon in Ponyville. A newcomer from the larger or more bustling locales of Manehattan or Canterlot would've remarked on Ponyville's laid-back charm and its 'quaintness.' At least, until they came to the Golden Oak's Library where the quiet charm of Ponyville was shattered by a series of non-stop gastric expulsions.

"Brrawwwwp!" Spike belched up another scroll as he leaned back on Twilight's bed. He groaned, clutching his stomach. "Twi-light…how many more?" he whined. "Brawp! I can't—Brawp!—stand it! Brawp!"

Twilight Sparkle was busy levitating each burped up scroll over to her desk and establishing a neat little pyramid of them. "I'm sorry Spike, I think that's all—"

"Brawp!"

"-of them." She finished weakly. Spike glared at her as he held up the last scroll. "I'm really sorry, Spike. I promise I'll make it up to you." The last scroll floated over to join the others. "But Princess Celestia thought it would be a good idea if I put all our friendship reports together in a book! Remember how useful it was to have my friendship reports when Discord escaped?"

"Vividly…" Spike groaned, still clutching his stomach.

Twilight gave a small chuckle. "Well, once I put them all together, we won't ever have to do that again. Isn't that great?" The only answer was Spike's gentle snoring. She decided to let the poor little guy get some rest while she worked. Just to be safe, she reread Princess Celestia's letter that accompanied the multitude of scrolls.

_My faithful Twilight Sparkle,_

_Accompanying this letter are all of the wonderful friendship reports you and your friends have sent to me. Know that receiving them is often the highlight of my day. They have all been carefully cataloged and preserved in my study. Enclosed are the instructions for a spell that should make your task easier. The first part is a duplication spell so you can preserve the original letters while using the duplicates for your book. The second part allows you to transfer the written words on the scrolls into the pages of the book itself. Should you run out of pages, there is also a spell that will add pages to the book. _

_This is a wonderful project you are embarking on. It is my hope that in rereading the scrolls written by you and your friends you will be able to relive those wonderful moments and think about all the moments yet to come. Friendship is an older and deeper magic than any taught in the classrooms of the School for Gifted Unicorns. It pleases me to see the progress that the six of you (as well as Spike and those three delightful fillies) have made in this field and look forward to your future discoveries._

_Sincerely yours,_  
_Princess Celestia of Equestria._

Twilight smiled and set it aside. Perhaps she'd include that as part of the introduction. After scanning the spells Princess Celestia had sent, Twilight started on her work.

While she was normally not one for dawdling, Twilight couldn't help but read each letter as she placed them in order before using the Princess' spell to shift the letters from the scrolls to the pages. First were the letters written by Twilight herself to the Princess…then came the ones her friends started to write after the Want It-Need It incident. Even alone, Twilight's cheeks flushed when she thought about that whole fracas she caused. If it weren't for her friends sticking up for her…she didn't know _what_ Princess Celestia would have done.

She started reading and arranging her friends' letters. Apparently they might have been cataloged back in Celestia's study, but they weren't necessarily mailed in their correct order. Oh well. That just gave Twilight the chance to properly organize them herself. She clopped her hooves together gleefully as she started putting her friends' letters in order. She briefly debated whether she should put them in chronological order or by sections based on who authored them…ah the dilemmas of being an editor!

Best. Assignment. Ever! Twilight grinned puckishly as she ultimately decided to put them in proper order by date. Then she mentally corrected herself. No, her best assignment was being ordered to study the magic of friendship here in Ponyville. She made a mental note to ask for a copy of that decree. That definitely belonged in the introduction to this volume!

Twilight chuckled as she found Applejack's cheeky letter to the Princess following the beginning of the most recent Cider Season. "_Dear Princess Celestia…I didn't learn anything!_" Twilight had been mortified when Applejack sent that letter. Truth be told, it was probably best that she didn't read her friends letters before Spike sent them. She probably would've tossed that one out. With the benefit of hindsight though, it was pretty funny. Oh at the time Twilight had a panic attack and started frantically writing an apology note to the Princess, pleading for mercy on Applejack's behalf before she went and badgered the farmpony to write an apology of her own. It had taken her friends the better part of the day to convince her that Princess Celestia wouldn't mind about Applejack's tone or her less than proper grammar. Eventually Twilight acceded and dropped the issue.

Moving on, she even found one Rarity had initially relayed to Princess Celestia aloud following Twilight's birthday. She was glad Rarity had still ended up writing it down. She would hate for any of them to be missing!

She smiled as she came across Fluttershy's letter from right after Tornado Day. As wonderful as it was to read her friends' lessons, remembering the challenges they faced and their growth along the way was even better. Fluttershy realizing that even the smallest of contributions can count; Rarity realizing that she should never have to be ashamed of where she came from; Pinkie Pie realizing that friendship can take many forms…

The Cutie Mark Crusaders open letter to Ponyville in _The Foal Free Press_ was there too. As unpleasant as that whole situation had been, she did think it was a good sign that even Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had started writing to the Princess. At this rate, all of Ponyville would be sending the Princess letters on friendship!

Twilight smiled at the thought as she idly got the rest of her friend's letters together and got them in order. Being her normally perfectionist self, she counted through them to make sure they were all there.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle's letter on being sisters…Apple Bloom's letter on patience…Rainbow Dash's from when she got Tank…Rarity's letter about being proud of where she—wait. Twilight frowned. Where was Rainbow Dash's letter on humility after the whole business with Mare Do Well? That happened before Rarity's trip to Canterlot, right? She was sure of it.

Thinking back, she realized that she hadn't actually seen it anywhere else in the pile of scrolls. Twilight gasped, feeling the panic begin to rise as she hastily flipped through scroll after scroll. "How can this be…Princess Celestia said she made sure to send them all. C-could she have made a mistake?" She bit her lip, horrified at the thought that she would have to send the Princess a letter suggesting that she had! What if the Princess was upset that Twilight accused her of making a mistake? She was the Princess after all. Or what if she felt that Twilight was being selfish for asking her to take time out of her exceedingly busy day to find one stray letter? What if she thought that Twilight had lost it and took back all her letters before she could finish her book and...

Twilight shook her head. "Calm down Twilight, you know the Princess won't be upset." She hoped. "Still, it is weird that the Princess or her secretary would lose one scroll. They're so careful with their mail in the Palace." She knew from the history books (and her own talks with the Princess) that half the bureaucracy in Canterlot had been developed to ensure exactly this sort of thing wouldn't happen in the aftermath of the now-infamous incident where the Princess' mail to the Tsar of Ponygrad, advising him to grant his subjects more liberty, had not been sent. One revolution later and nowadays the city was called Stalliongrad and there wasn't a Tsar anymore.

Lesson learned.

In fact, Princess Celestia had learned her spell for sending letters via magic some time afterwards. The Princess even said in her letter to Twilight that they cataloged everything. "Surely they would've noticed if one friendship report was missing." The lavender unicorn mused aloud. "I mean, the only other reason would be if…" her eyes widened.

Spike was suddenly and rudely awoken from his much deserved nap by the sound of a whistling kettle…which was odd considering he hadn't put any up this morning. Blearily he rubbed his eyes and sat up, stretching as he looked for the source of the noise. His eyes snapped wide open when he saw the sound was coming from steam escaping from Twilight's ears as her whole face turned red, her face twisted with anger. Sensing what was coming, he dove back under the covers and hid beneath Twilight's pillow.

Outside, anypony walking past the library would've been suddenly deafened by a loud yell that frightened every bird between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest out of their nests.

_**"RAINBOW DAAASH!"**_

& & &

Rainbow Dash was reclining on a stray cloud hovering over the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres. She wasn't napping at the moment, not quite anyway. Rainbow was enjoying the feeling of the sun warming her. She wriggled in deeper to the cloud, letting her tail hang off the edge of the cloud as she tucked her hooves behind her head. Oh yeah, this was _wonderful_.

Life was good.

"Rainbow Dash!" The cyan pegasus' ear twitched as she heard her name being called. She didn't open her eyes but her face did furrow slightly as she tried to judge how her name was being used. Was it being called by a pony in distress seeking her help? Somepony wanting her to do work? Was it Pinkie Pie looking for somepony to be hyper at? Applejack looking for somepony to help do some chores? No, it was Twilight Sparkle-and she sounded annoyed.

Dash sighed rolled over, grabbing a corner of the cloud and dragging it over her like a blanket. Maybe Twilight would go away if she didn't respond.

Twilight was getting close. Rainbow Dash could hear her hooves pounding on the ground. "Rainbow Dash, I know you're up there!"

Groaning, Rainbow bowed to the inevitable and sat up. "Ugh, fine. What is it?" She rubbed her eyes as she looked down at the unicorn glaring up at her angrily.

Stomping a hoof for emphasis, Twilight shouted up at her. "Get down here right this minute! You've really done it this time!"

"What did I do?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew down. A stray thought passed her mind. "Is this about underlining all the dirty words in the library's dictionary?"

Twilight glowered. "No."

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. "Oh? Hm. I'm kinda surprised you found out about your bed already."

"What's wrong with my-" Twilight shook her head. "No, no, never mind! It can wait! Rainbow Dash, this is about your letter! The one about humility and bragging! Remember Mare Do Well?"

Rainbow grimaced and jerked as if stung. "…Oh. That."

"Yeah. That." Twilight exhaled, trying to relax. More normally she asked, "Why didn't you send it to the Princess?"

"I didn't…not send it, I mean" Rainbow Dash blustered, only to sag a second later. "…I never wrote it." She mumbled.

Twilight's eyes widened. "What? Why?"

Dash awkwardly turned her head and rubbed her right front leg against her left. "Twi, do we _really_ have to talk about this? This happened months ago, can't we just…ya know, forget about it?"

"We can't forget about it!" Twilight blurted it out, her eyes wide. "I-it was a lesson in friendship!"

Rainbow crossed her hooves across her chest. "Oh, is _that_ what that was? I forgot."

Momentarily missing her sarcasm Twilight gasped. "Oh no! Rainbow Dash you have to write that letter! You…what?" She blinked, her mind starting to catch up as her panic receded. "Rainbow…what are you saying? We did that for your benefit…"

The pegasus snorted angrily. Rainbow lowered herself onto all fours so she could stomp her front hoof angrily. "You wanna know why I never wrote your stupid letter? I meant to—I did! I even started the 'Dear Princess Celestia' and everything. But I couldn't think of anything to say so I decided to grab a snack, take a nap…I promised myself I'd write it after I rested."

"A-and you forgot afterwards and kept putting it off, right?" Twilight provided hopefully. Her face fell when Rainbow Dash shook her head.

"No. The more I thought about it…the more I was convinced that," she bit her lip. "That you guys were…"

"Were what?" Twilight asked, taking a step forward.

Rainbow Dash exhaled a single word. "Horrible."

Twilight felt her jaw drop idly. "W-what?"

Rainbow swallowed, her body shaking with the effort she was using to not lose control. "Look, this is why I didn't wanna talk about it, okay? I-I didn't wanna get in your faces about it—I thought that you guys would think that I was just being big-headed or a jerk so I decided not to say anything. But what you guys did…it was _wrong_, okay? Messed up like Discord-at-Pinkie's-party-with-rocks-and-bags-of-flour wrong."

"I—I don't understand. We were trying to help…you were bragging so much—"

"So what!" Rainbow shouted, flapping her wings and hovering over Twilight, stunning her into silence. "So I was bragging a lot, big deal! You never pulled that sort of stuff on anypony else when they went around bragging!"

Twilight took a step back, confused. "What do you mean?"

Rainbow Dash lowered herself to the ground. "Geeze, you want a list?" Dash rolled her eyes. "Remember when Applejack was convinced she could harvest all the apples on Sweet Apple Acres herself?" She waited for Twilight to nod. "Well, wasn't that being boastful?"

"I—I suppose it was a little." Twilight allowed. "But…" she didn't get a chance to finish.

"And what do you know—she couldn't do it." Rainbow cut her off. "So, what did you do? Did you try to show her up, prove that you and your magic could harvest the apples better than the pony whose entire life was apple farming?" She narrowed her eyes. "Oh wait, no. You didn't. You went to talk to her. And she blew you off. So you went to talk to her _again_. And she blew you off. _Again_."

"T-that wasn't the same thing!" Twilight insisted. "Applejack was hurting herself more than anypony else in that situation…"

Rainbow snorted. "Are you kidding? She launched me into your house, gave Pinkie Pie and I don't know how many others food poisoning and then she stampeded a herd of bunnies through Ponyville and destroyed ponies' gardens, including their flowers and crops. Some of those ponies make their livelihoods on that stuff." She frowned. "But I never saw you or anypony else sneaking behind Applejack's back to prove that you could outdo AJ."

"That's not—"

"And remember Trixie? When she came to town bragging and blustering—and I should remind you, lying through her teeth!—all you wanted to do was to go home and hide under your bed instead of standing up to her! Hay, where were you when she was humiliating me, Applejack and Rarity? You didn't do a thing to stand up for us or stop her! So why did a total stranger like Trixie get a free pass and not me?"

Twilight just shook her head as everything just seemed to go out of control. This wasn't how this was supposed to go!

Seeing Twilight without an answer just made Rainbow launch into her again. "Remember when Apple Bloom went around town showing off her cutie marks—_both _of them?" She shook her head incredulously. "I didn't see Applejack having a problem when it was _her sister_ showing off in front of the entire town. Never saw Apple Bloom's friends give themselves cooler Cutie Marks to try to humiliate Apple Bloom." Rainbow Dash panted as if she was running a race. It all just came pouring out, the dam of many months of patience having given out. "I never saw anypony tell Rarity to give it rest when she goes on about how amazing her outfits are…I never heard you suggesting to us that we should set up our own dress shop to drive Rarity out of business to 'teach her a lesson' about being modest!"

"But—" Twilight couldn't get a word in edgewise. Rainbow Dash just kept going, speaking so fast and heatedly it was a wonder she remembered to breathe.

"And what about Flim and Flam? Yeah they were jerks, but it was AJ's family who were bragging that their cider was the best! Shouldn't we have helped Flim and Flam to try to teach the Apples some 'humility?'" Rainbow spat the word scornfully. "Hay, I saw Granny Smith's face when she tried their cider. The fact was that those dorkily-dressed twins could make cider as good as the Apples, and even make more cider and make it faster than the Apples could! So what if the Apples weren't being modest and if Flim and Flam could actually deliver on their promises—we helped out AJ because she was our friend. When everypony in town called me a hero, nopony had an issue with what I said or did…nopony had a problem with my bragging. The only ponies who did were the five of you: my best friends." She gasped as she finished, her sides heaving and her head lowered as she panted.

Twilight was stunned by the onslaught. She didn't know what to do…she had no idea Rainbow Dash felt this way. Finally when she caught her breath she looked Twilight in the eye. The purple unicorn was surprised to see tears welling up in the corners of the proud pegasus' eyes. "…how could you?" She asked softly.

Twilight shook her head, trying to assemble her thoughts. "Rainbow…why didn't you tell us? I had no idea you felt like this…you could've just talked to us…"

"No, I couldn't have." Rainbow's voice sounded strained as she tried to keep hold of her temper. "Remember back at Sugarcube Corner when this was all going down? You were all talking about how great Mare Do Well was—sorry, about how great _you_ all were." She corrected herself sarcastically. "You all laughed at me! You flat-out laughed at me!" Twilight's ears lowered as she recalled. "You were all just _so_ smug laughing about how the five of you managed to show me up and outdo me and I didn't even know it was you. You went behind my back and lied and…and I couldn't trust you guys, okay? Not about this." Rainbow admitted. "And then I felt like _I_ was the bad guy because I couldn't trust you so I just wanted to move on and pretend that it never happened, okay? But it did and now you've brought it up again and I'm just _so_ angry that I wanna explode!"

"Rainbow…" Twilight shook her head. "I'm sorry if we hurt your feelings…but, you have to remember, you were really out of control…"

Rainbow Dash jerked as if stung, sputtering. "I-I was—_I_ was out of control?!" She yelped angrily. "At least I didn't _make _any disasters for me to solve, Miss Smarty Pants!" Then it was Twilight who jerked violently, her face heating up. Rainbow tossed her head. "Yeah, remember _that_? How would you have reacted if me and the girls had decided to get together and teach you a lesson about stressing out over your friendship reports by writing one behind your back. Hey, suppose the Princess—the pony you've been trying to please ever since you were a filly—arrived and said that we were better students than you?" Dash clenched her jaw. "But no. _You_ went nuts and we stuck out our necks for you! Yeah, we shoulda listened to you more, but I don't think you would've listened to us even if we had. So tell me, how is that when you or anypony else gets so wrapped up in what they're doing they get a slap on the ankle and I get to be humiliated by my so-called best friends?"

Normally Twilight would've tried to respond to her clearly distraught friend in as calm and rational a manner as she was capable of. But the "Want-It, Need-It" incident was very much a sore spot and Rainbow had done the equivalent of jabbing a red-hot poker in it.

"Oh, like you're such a perfect friend?" Twilight shot back, trembling with anger. "Remember when I went to you before the royal wedding, trying desperately to warn you all that something was wrong with Princess 'Cadence' but none of you listened to me? What about _that_?"

Taken aback by Twilight's sudden offensive, Rainbow Dash twitched her wings. "Hay! I wasn't even there to see the fake-Cadence acting like a jerk! I was busy working on my Sonic Rainboom."

"And that pretty much sums up your priorities." Twilight snarked acidly. "And after the rehearsal, you and the others just blew past me to comfort a pony who was already being coddled by my mind-controlled brother; a pony who the rest of you had just met that day, instead of giving me the time of day!"

"W-well, it's not like you've never been wrong or leaped to the wrong conclusion!" Dash blustered. "Like the Smarty Pants thing or how wrapped up you were when you got a message from your future self? You're not exactly known for reacting well under pressure-when you showed up at the rehearsal you sounded nuts!"

Twilight shook angrily. "I kept trying to warn you! I tried to tell everypony over dinner and you all ignored me! Then when I saw her cast a spell on my brother I tried to talk to you all again but you were all so happy because you got to be bridesmaids! Yeah, remember that? Even you cared more about your dress than you did me! So I tried to warn you all, not once, not twice, but _three_ times about 'Cadence' and did you listen to me? Nooooo. So sorry if my last attempt wasn't as planned and diplomatic as I usually am! I needed you guys and you just blew right past me without a word!"

Had she stopped there things might have ended differently, as upset as she was about her own issues, even Rainbow Dash could see how vulnerable and hurt Twilight was over this. But Twilight was still angry. She had come to talk to Rainbow Dash about why she had lied to her only to have the cyan pegasus explode at her for something that happened months ago and ruthlessly poke and prod at every misstep Twilight had made. She felt like she was being dissected.

So strong was her sense of violation, of betrayal for Rainbow Dash rubbing those incidents in her face that Twilight couldn't help add one final barb. "So much for the Element of Loyalty."

Rainbow Dash snapped her head up as if struck and stomped her hoof down so hard the ground cracked beneath her. "What the hay?! It's not like anypony seriously suspected her of being a giant, ugly bug queen! Hay, I was the only pony to _not_ watch Chrysalis-Cadence act weird! Why blame me?"

"Sorry, I guess I just expected more from my most _loyal_ friend." Twilight's voice dripped with sarcasm.

Rainbow Dash wings snapped open as she whinnied with anger, rearing up on her hind legs. "You've got some nerve to talk about loyalty after what you pulled! You might act like the smartest pony ever, but you don't know the first thing about being loyal!"

"And you do?" Twilight snorted incredulously. "Well, go ahead. Enlighten me."

Rainbow smacked her front hooves together. "It's about being there for your friends and the ponies you care about instead of being a jealous nag!"

"Jealous? Me?" Twilight flicked her tail. "You're being ridiculous."

"Oh really?" Rainbow challenged. "Then why was it that you and the others were the _only_ ponies in town who gave a flying feather about how I acted? I didn't hear anypony else complain…hay, I didn't even hear you complain since you decided to sneak around my back without even talking to me first." She crossed her hooves. "But I figured it out. You're jealous because everypony in town appreciated what I do without me even having to try. You—" she pointed accusingly "—have been trying to get the Princess to appreciate what you do so much that you do whatever she says without question, turn the entire town upside down whenever she so much as _looks_ in our direction and you're _still_ afraid that she's going to banish you to magic kindergarten or something. So yeah, you were totally jealous that I can get ponies to like and appreciate me without me having to turn into a quivering, crazy mess!"

"Ha!" Twilight barked. "You've been reading too much _Daring Do_ Rainbow, because that is some piece of fiction!" She stomped her own hoof. "If you're so great, what're you still doing here?" Twilight prompted. "Why aren't you off with your precious Wonderbolts? Oh that's right…they know to look for somepony better than a lazy, egotistical, self-absorbed pegasus who would rather nap than do her job!"

Rainbow Dash shook angrily. "Y-you shut up! I _am_ going to be a Wonderbolt, and when I am I'm never going to speak to you again!"

"Why wait?" Twilight snapped. "I can't believe I was ever friends with such a selfish, immature jerk!"

"Same here you snotty, neurotic control freak!" Rainbow Dash shoved her face against Twilight's.

"Fine!"

_"Fine!"_

"FINE!" The two glared at each other for before breaking away at the same time and going their separate ways. Rainbow Dash zoomed away, over Sweet Apple Acres and back to town. Twilight stood still and used her horn to teleport herself away to the library.

& & &

Spike was balancing precariously atop a stack of books, swaying slightly under her weight.

Standing at the base of the leaning tower of books, Fluttershy looked up at the diminutive dragon. "Um, Spike? Are you sure you don't need any help? I can wait until Twilight comes back…or, um, fly up myself?"

Reaching out with one claw, Spike grit his teeth in determination. "N-no way! I'm Twilight's…number one assistant…I totally got this." A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead as he reached for the book in front of him. "_A Chronicle of Ferrets_, right?" At Fluttershy's confirmation, Spike reached out for it. His wriggling digits were so close they could smudge the dust off the spine (he knew Twilight would be making him dust the books before long if there was that much dust on them) as he tried to pull the book away from the shelf by its spine.

"Got it!" He whispered in victory as his claws closed around the book…just as Twilight teleported into the middle of the room. "Who-oa!" Spike wobbled, flailing his arms as he tried to maintain his balance, but it was no use. Mount Book was coming down. "Look out below!"

"Eeek!" Fluttershy covered her eyes as Spike and a tidal wave of books plummeted down, covering the floor. A moment later a trio of heads, one dragon and two ponies, popped out of the sea of books.

"Sorry Twilight." Spike chuckled weakly at Twilight, knowing just how dead he was. "A heh, oops? Never Rainbow Dash around when you need her, right?" He gave Twilight a smile that was soon wiped off his face as he saw Twilight's expression. "Twilight?"

Twilight said nothing, not even to yell at Spike for the potential damage to the books. She just climbed out of the mess and walked over to the stairs.

Confused, Spike proceeded to dust himself off and help pull Fluttershy out of the mess. "Sorry about the mess…can I clean it up after we go to the picnic?" he asked hopefully. "I've been looking forward to it all week and—"

"Okay." Twilight sighed. "It's fine…you two just go. I-I'm not going. Y-you guys have fun. I'm just…see you later." She trotted upstairs and out of sight, not waiting for a reply. A moment later the door closed.

"Is Twilight okay?" Fluttershy asked in concern as she pulled a book off her head.

"She was this morning." Spike wrung his tail back into shape after having landed on it. "Probably just wants to get a start on some project or other."

Fluttershy bit her lip daintily. "If you say so…I'm sure the picnic will be very nice. Perhaps Twilight will change her mind and join us."

But when the two of them journeyed over to the gazebo where the picnic was being held, they were surprised to find that another of their number was also inexplicably missing. Specifically, a certain rainbow-maned pegasus.

Applejack scratched her head in confusion as she looked over the ponies' picnic. "What in tarnation?" She asked after Fluttershy and Spike sat down and explained that Twilight was staying home. "First Twilight skips something on that schedule of hers and then Rainbow Dash passes up her favorite lunch; a peanut butter with zap apple jam sandwich with Apple family cider? Ah know that pony loves napping something fierce, but no way she would miss out on free cider. Something ain't right."

Feeling sheepish for his earlier misguided optimism, Spike rubbed the back of his head. "Um, Twilight was looking kinda…off, when she came home."

"Define 'off.'" Applejack gave him a knowing look.

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie poked her head between them, violating everypony and dragon's personal space. "Do you mean off like someone took out her battery or off like 'oh no! I'm late for my report! Aaaaaugh!' off?" Pinkie Pie asked in one rushed breath. Spike and Applejack just blinked.

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh no, it wasn't anything like that. She just seemed…unhappy."

Rarity used her magic to gently dab a napkin at her mouth as she finished taking a sip of her tea. "Hm. Perhaps Twilight and Rainbow Dash's absences are connected?"

"I think went to talk to Rainbow Dash this morning." Spike thought it over as he finished a mouthful of pastries. He swallowed. "When she came back she was looking kinda down. Maybe they had a fight or something?"

Applejack adjusted her hat. "That makes more sense than ah'd like to admit. I'm gonna go hunt down Rainbow, see what that darn fool pony did this time." She trotted away from the picnic and back to Sweet Apple Acres. She didn't mean anything by her remark about Rainbow Dash; it was more an assumption that if there had been an argument, then it was the hot-headed pegasus who was most likely the instigator. Applejack went in expecting to find a fuming, sulking pony that she would have to push to apologize first.

The orange farmpony walked through the apple orchard, her eyes trimmed for any tell-tales signs of her quarry. She looked for discarded apple cores littering the ground around the trees or a rainbow colored tail hanging down from a branch. Instead she found nothing until she passed by the family barn…and heard the sound of faint sniffling coming from inside. The door was partly open.

Silently, Applejack trotted over and walked into the barn. "Rainbow Dash? Sugarcube, you in here? Everything okay?"

She saw Rainbow Dash lying on stack of hay bales. "L-leave me alone," she grumbled lowly as she turned away from the door. Rainbow's voice was even scratchier than usual. "I'm _fine_."

"If you say so…" Applejack headed over. "We were a mite bit surprised when you didn't show up to the picnic. Ya did know we had some Apple Family cider, right?"

Rainbow grumbled some more, her face pressed against the hay. "Don't care about any stupid cider…"

Applejack sighed. "Rainbow, honey…what's going on? Twilight didn't come either. Did something happen?" There was no response. "Did y'all have a fight?" She prodded Rainbow Dash gently with her hoof. "It's okay, we can talk this out."

"No we can't." Dash lifted her face out of the hay. "You'll just take her side like you always do," she accused, but without much real heat.

Legitimately confused, Applejack took a seat next to the miserable sounding pegasus and draped a leg across her back. "Hey, come on now. That's some real stinkin'-thinking you got going on there. We're all friends." Rainbow's incredulous snort said it all. Now the cowpony was really concerned. "Rainbow, what happened?"

"...Mare Do Well happened."

"Huh? How'd that old thing come up?"

"Don't wanna talk. Lemme 'lone." Rainbow Dash sulked and turned her head away.

Applejack frowned. "Rainbow Dash, if you really wanted to be alone you'd be up in your cloud house where nopony 'cept maybe Fluttershy could reach you. But you ain't. Yer in _mah _barn, so ah figure you want to talk, whether you want to admit it or not. But even if you don't say a word, ah ain't leaving."

"…Fine." Rainbow exhaled as she sat upright. She stretched out some kinks in her neck and hastily drew a hoof across her face. "Ugh, you ever think of cleaning this place out? I think this hay is messing with my allergies.

Applejack declined to point out the fact that Rainbow Dash didn't have any allergies and even if she did, she was a pony. Hay wasn't about to be the cause of them. "Ah'll keep that in mind." She commented dryly. "So come on…how did the Mare Do Well cause a fight between you and Twi months after it happened?"

Rainbow Dash sighed and fidgeted slightly. "Twilight found out that I never sent any friendship report to the Princess about that whole mess."

"You didn't? Why not?"

"Because if I wrote anything it probably would've gone liked this: 'I learned that my friends are perfectly willing to go behind my back to lie and laugh at me just so I can learn a lesson about my behavior that nopony else in town but them cared about.'" She snapped. "And maybe as a p.s., 'It's okay for anypony other than me to brag about their achievements.'"

Applejack drew back, surprised by the sudden heat in the previously-withdrawn pony. "Whoa nelly, settle back!" Rainbow hunched her shoulders and snorted but tried to calm herself. "Whoo…ah take it that you and Twi had some words then about it?" Rainbow nodded. "Sugarcube, have you had this been eatin' at you ever since then?" Another nod. "Oh Rainbow, why didn't you ever tell us?"

"Didn't you hear me? You went behind my back and put on a full-blown costume for the sole purpose of hiding your identity from me and humiliating me. I…I can't trust you guys anymore. Not like I could before." She looked away from Applejack. "I thought you'd just think that I hadn't learned my lesson…I didn't think I could take another lesson."

Applejack sighed. "Oh RD. Ah'm sorry. That whole business really hurt, huh?" She gave her friend a sideways hug. "Ah'm powerful sorry 'bout that. But the way you were bragging and carrying on…it was downright _unbearable_."

"And that excuses everything huh?" Rainbow Dash gave her a glare out of the corner of her eye. "I didn't see you see you turning down that big old trophy the town gave you for stopping that cattle stampede. Or that send-off the town gave you for the Equestria Rodeo Competition."

The orange earth pony shook her head. "That weren't the same. Ah didn't get up and boast about how great I was."

"No, you were just perfectly willing to accept it when everypony else was getting up to tell you that you were great." Rainbow Dash retorted, "Which is what I did! Hay, even I got up to say you were great!" Something tickled at her memory. "For that matter, a couple of weeks after the trophy ceremony where I called you a great athlete, you were the one who started bragging about being the best athlete in Ponyville, if not all of Equestria. Remember that game of horseshoes before the Iron Pony Competition?" Rainbow Dash looked at her. "You were the one who started rubbing it in that you beat me and that you were the best. We might never have gotten into that whole mess at the Running of the Leaves if it wasn't for you!"

Applejack held onto her temper with four hooves. She would've laid into Rainbow Dash but she realized that the pegasus was just venting. This was probably what caused the trouble with Twilight too. So she hunkered down and determined to wait it out.

Rainbow went on. "…and then there was that stuff with Applebucking season and Cider season," she recalled her earlier argument with Twilight. "…how proud you were when Apple Bloom got _two_ cutie marks—seriously, how did nopony realize there was an issue with that?—you didn't certainly tell her to knock it off with the showing off." She panted. "You say you're just a simple honest farmer…so be honest: you have as much pride as I do. How come Mare Do Well never paid you a visit? How come it never occurred to Twilight or anypony else that you needed a lesson in humility too? Why me? Huh? _Why was it just me?!_"

There were about a hundred things Applejack could have said there, ranging from rejecting everything Rainbow Dash said to acknowledging that she was totally right. She didn't say any of them because it didn't matter right now if Dash was right or wrong. She was hurt and she needed a friend. So that's what Applejack decided to be. She wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow Dash and gave her a tight hug. With scarcely any prompting, Rainbow Dash threw her face into Applejack's shoulder and started to cry, her whole body heaving with wracking sobs.

After a few minutes of just holding the pegasus, Applejack broke the silence. "We never meant to hurt you," she murmured softly. "You know that, don't you?"

Rainbow sniffled, giving a weak nod. "But you _did_." Her voice cracked.

AJ sighed. "…ah know."

Rainbow Dash gave a weak sniff that turned into feeble attempt at laughter. "I—I guess this is how Twilight felt too."

"What do you mean? You talkin' bout your fight?"

"N-no," the cyan pegasus shook her head. "Well sorta. A-after I told her why I didn't write a letter and why I—well, I got her upset and _she_ accused me of not being a good friend because I didn't believe her when she tried to warn us before the wedding."

Applejack resisted the urge to wince. Oh snap. "Ah…see." She rubbed Rainbow Dash's back as Dash tried to retell the rest of that fateful argument.

"S-she said that I wasn't loyal enough…and she was right, wasn't she?"

"Oh honey, don't you be saying that." Applejack said, giving her a supportive nuzzle. "None of us believed Twilight."

Dash drew back. "But I'm the Element of Loyalty!" She insisted. "It's my job to be there for other ponies and I blew it! Twilight was right." She hung her head.

But Applejack shook her head. "No…that ain't it at all. Being loyal or honest ain't our job...it's just who we are. And don't you think for a second that you ain't loyal. You're the most loyal pony ah know. Twilight was just mad." Applejack reassured her, tilting her head up so she could look her in the eye. "Ah'm guessing you were too."

The guilt was plain on Rainbow's face. "I said all she cared about was pleasing Princess Celestia and that she was a mess. Then she said all I cared about was the Wonderbolts and that I'd never be good enough and…oh geez, we were terrible." Her eyes watered up.

"Shhh, shh, s'okay, it's okay." Applejack soothed as she stroked Rainbow's mane. She sighed sadly as Rainbow straightened herself up, wiping tears away. "Aww sugarcube. Cryin' don't suit you. How about you have a bit of a rest here on the farm for a spell. We can save you some food for later."

The pegasus sagged. "Okay." She relented, sounding drained. She leaned on Applejack as the latter led Rainbow out to the house and up the stairs to Applejack's room. No sooner had Rainbow Dash gotten onto the bed than she was out like a light. The sight of Rainbow snoring made Applejack smile in spite of herself. She tucked her friend in under the covers and gently nudged a pillow beneath her head. Seeing Rainbow Dash look so calm and peaceful after her experience in the barn was comforting.

She quietly walked down the stairs to find her brother in the kitchen. "Big Macintosh, can you do me a favor?" AJ asked quietly. "I got Rainbow sleeping upstairs in mah bed. Can y'all just keep an eye on her when she gets up, maybe fix her something to eat?"

"Eeyup." The big stallion nodded.

"Thanks Big Mac. I'll be back as soon as ah can!" Applejack reared up on her hind legs before galloping hard for the gazebo where Spike, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all waiting for her.

"Girls-and Spike-" She announced "we got ourselves a problem."

& & &

_Rainbow Dash stood before her friends, arrayed around her in a half-circle. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean all those things...you know that, don't you Twilight?"_

_"Oh it's okay, Rainbow." Twilight assured her. "_

_Dash sagged in relief. "R-really?"_

_Pinkie Pie nodded. "Of course! There's just one itsy-bitsy teeny-tiny thing left to do."_

_"What's that?"_

_"We need to teach you your lesson!" Applejack grinned as she reached down and pulled off her face, revealing it to be no more than a mask. The others did too._

_Rainbow Dash shook her head as she saw what lay underneath. "N-no…not you!"_

_Her only answer was a mouthless smile from Mare Do Well._

& & &

"Hnng!" Rainbow Dash jerked as her eyes shot open. Then she immediately shut them again. The sunlight was streaming through the window right onto her face. She groaned, stirring slowly. Her body felt heavy as lead as her sleep addled-brain put together that if the sun was coming up, then she had slept clear through the afternoon and evening, straight on through to the follow morning.

"Mornin' there, sugarcube."

"AJ?" Dash blinked as she stretched, sitting up. The orange pony was sitting in a chair propped up against the wall. Across her lap was a blanket, making the pegasus realize that she must've slept there the entire night. "Unng…ugh, I was really wiped out, huh? Sorry about taking your bed."

Applejack nodded, popping her neck. "Ain't a problem Rainbow. Reckon you're feeling really peckish. You haven't eaten since, what, breakfast yesterday?"

Rainbow's stomach growled loudly in confirmation. "Yeah, sounds about right." She swung her hooves onto the floor and started stretching to get the blood flowing. Applejack yawned herself and scratched herself. Dash hesitated before asking. "So, uh, did you…see Twilight?" She didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed when Applejack shook her head.

& & &

_"Twilight? Twi?" Applejack stood outside the library door, knocking. She had already been there for five minutes and there had been no answer. She had no way of knowing for sure, but she strongly suspected Twilight Sparkle was up in her room, her face buried in her pillow; feeling so lost and sad that she wished she had Smarty Pants to cuddle. AJ wondered if she had time to run back to Sweet Apple Acres…_

_Sighing, she knocked again. "Twilight?" A familiar country drawl announced. "Sugarcube, it's us. Can we come in? Ah ain't leaving 'til you talk to me!" Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity stood behind Applejack, with Spike sitting on the farmpony's back._

_From the other side of the door she heard Twilight clear her throat. "N-not now." She croaked, sounding as horrible as the other's suspected she felt. "C-can you come back later? I'm really busy studying."_

_"Come on Twilight, open the door! We want to help!"_

_"You can't help…no pony can help." Twilight moaned. "Worse, you'll all think 'there goes crazy Twilight Sparkle making something out of nothing' again!"_

_Everypony and dragon present there flattened their ears against their head's feeling miserable. "Twilight…" Applejack started again._

_"Just go." They heard Twilight say softly, followed quickly by the sound of hoofsteps gently climbing up the stairs._

& & &

"…oh." Rainbow Dash looked down guiltily.

Applejack leaned over and draped a hoof across her back like she did yesterday. "It's okay, we'll sort this out…you were both stressed out and het up and said things y'all didn't mean."

"But…" Rainbow bit her tongue. "Never mind."

"What?"

"It's nothing."

"Sugarcube…" Applejack drew out the word, letting Rainbow Dash know she wasn't going to drop this.

Dash sighed. "…I did mean it." She whispered quietly. "N-not the stuff I said about Twilight!" She added quickly. "I-I mean the stuff about Mare Do Well and just how angry I was…and—and I still am! And…I think Twilight's the same way…"

Applejack rubbed her neck. "A right mess we've got going on here. Ah suppose ah didn't realize how much this stuff bothered you. 'f course, it mighta helped if you were honest with us."

Rainbow Dash looked down. "I—I didn't want to lose our friendship by being mad at you guys. Everypony else had already forgotten all about me…I thought if I didn't go along with it that you'd just…" She trailed off.

"You idjit," Applejack snorted, shaking her head. Her voice was surprisingly soft when she went on "how could you ever think we'd do that?"

"I didn't think you'd go behind my back to humiliate me either."Rainbow couldn't quite keep the venom out of her voice as she spoke, for once hoping that Applejack's competitive nature wouldn't rise to the challenge. It was bad enough being mad at Twilight, getting into a fight with another friend over the Mare Do Well mess would just make things even worse. "Sorry."

Applejack gave a weak smile. "It's okay, sugarcube. Better to say what you really feel that keep it bottled up. That's what got you and Twi in such a mess to begin with. Hay, you know me, honesty's always the best policy." She winked at Rainbow.

"Yeah, yeah…" Rainbow's lip twitched. "By the way, Pinkie ever make you one of her Chimicherries? Or did she go with Cherrychanga?"

"Alright, fair enough." Applejack rolled her eyes. "But that just makes mah point. I coulda saved myself and everypony else a lot of headache if I just told the truth."

"Tell me about it." Rainbow Dash nodded. "Do you have _any_ idea how angry Rarity was when she got back after we left her in the desert?"

AJ winced. "Come on now, let's go get some breakfast. Rest of the family's already up."

Sure enough, as the two mares walked downstairs to the kitchen, they found Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom all sitting around the breakfast table. "Morning Applejack! Morning Rainbow Dash!" Apple Bloom chirped brightly. "Didja have a nice sleepover?"

Rainbow Dash gave the filly and then Applejack a look. "Uh…sure. Thanks for having me."

"Nonsense!" Granny Smith spoke up as she pushed a tray of apple pancakes towards the pegasus. "Any friend of—er, Applejack is welcome 'ere. Yer practically family!"

"Um, thank you Granny Smith." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "That's really cool."

"Eh? Say agin?" The wizened old mare blinked. "It ain't cold. Big Macintosh did you leave the window open again ya big galoot?"

"Eenope." The big stallion shook his head.

Granny Smith chewed her lip. "Hm. Must be on account of how skinny you are,"

She seemed not to notice Apple Bloom and Applejack's muffled giggling in the background. Rainbow glared at both of them, to no effect. She swallowed her mouthful of pancakes but was cut off when the matriarch of the Apple family put another helping of pancakes onto her plate. "You eat up now! Gotta put some weight on them bird-bones of yers…that's the trouble with pegasi; ya eat more like a bird than ya do a pony! Shucks, how you gonna get yourself a husband and rear some foals if you're so light the wind can blow you around?"

"H-husband? Foals?" Rainbow's jaw dropped as her face did a slow burn. Applejack was busy having a coughing fit into her hat.

"Yesiree! Why take a look at Big Macintosh here. This big old lummox is great marrying material, ain't you Big Mac?"

For once the taciturn stallion didn't answer with a eeyup or enope. All that came out of his mouth was: "Urhhh…"

"So modest!" Granny Smith chuckled as she hobbled around the table, putting a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "Ah'm sure the two of you could be very happy together. Red and blue go nice together, dontcha know!"

Rainbow's cheeks were turning the color of Big Mac's coat…and his cheeks were turning a dark shade of purple. Applejack was pounding her hoof on the table, her face red from laughter as tears streaked down her cheeks. "W-what about Applejack?" Rainbow Dash squeaked out, trying to get the attention off her.

"Applejack?" Granny Smith blinked. "Shewt, ah know ah'm gonna haveta wait a while for Applejack to gimme some grandfoals." She lowered her voice a smidgen as she murmured to Rainbow Dash. "Sometimes ah think AJ has 'the gay.' Not that there's anything wrong with it, mind you."

Rainbow Dash snickered as it was Applejack's turn to be mortified. "G-Granny!"

Apple Bloom scratched her head in confusion. "What's 'the gay'? Is it like having an allergy or somethin?"

Big Macintosh and Rainbow Dash snickered into their breakfast as Applejack plunked her face down onto the table and covered her face with her hat.

Thankfully, after that breakfast was a quiet affair as Big Macintosh stayed to clean the dishes and Applejack and Rainbow Dash excused themselves.

After they put some distance between themselves and the Apple family house did the two mares finally spoke. "That was…" Applejack shuddered. "Ugh, kin we not discuss that breakfast? Ever?"

"I won't if you won't." Rainbow agreed. Applejack nodded solemnly. Then the cyan pony sighed. "So…now what?"

Applejack adjusted her hat and turned to regard Dash. "Ah think it's best you go talk to Twilight."

The expression of disbelief on the pegasus' face was striking. Her wings flared open in shock. "What me? I'm the last pony she wants to see right now!"

The cowpony shook her head. "Ah ain't so sure about that. Look, the both of you are mad at each other so you got to clear that up. That's one thing. The other is…both of you feel like you can't trust the rest of us 'bout this…or maybe you think we don't trust you. Either way, that means the two of you have the best shot of reaching each other. You're the only one of us who can understand what she's going through; and that goes both ways."

Rainbow Dash looked dubious. "I don't know about this AJ…"

"If you got any better ideas, ah'd sure like to hear them." Applejack looked at her knowingly.

Rainbow groaned. She didn't and they both knew it. "Fine."

"Stay right here sugarcube. Ah got me an idea that'll make this a mite easier." Applejack raced back to the house. Rainbow scratched her head, wondering what she was up to. When Applejack returned she was carrying something in her mouth.

Rainbow Dash blinked at what she saw. "Seriously?" A slow grin crept across her face. "…thanks." She took Applejack's procured peace offering and flew off.

But before heading to the library and Twilight, Rainbow Dash flew up...and up...and up. As high as she could go. She looked down at Ponyville. All the tension had finally gotten to her. As much as she wanted to erupt on Applejack and the others for the Mare Do Well business, she now had to go apologize to Twilight for their blow-up yesterday since she wasn't seeing anypony else. There, safe and secure in her solitude Rainbow Dash did what she'd been dying to do since yesterday: yell her hooves off.

How was this fair? _She_ was the pony her friends had conspired behind her back to humiliate. And Twilight had probably masterminded the whole thing! Why couldn't she just go home and wait for Twilight to come apologize to her? Didn't that make a whole lot more sense?

Rainbow shouted and yelled and screamed until her face was red and her throat was raw. She panted, exhausted. Even her training sessions didn't take this much out of her. Rainbow zoomed down into a cloud bank, letting the moisture refresh her. Now that she'd gotten that out of her system, maybe she could talk to Twilight and not do anything to make this worse.

She hoped, anyway.

Rainbow flew down to the library. The polite thing for a pony to do would be to land at the front door and knock; asking Twilight if they could talk for a bit. That was what Applejack and the others had tried, to no avail. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash wasn't that polite. She zoomed over to the balcony and landed with a heavy thud. "Twilight! It's me! Rainbow Dash!" Then she wanted to facehoof. Of course it was her. Who else would it be? "I'm here to talk to you! I know you're in there!"

Behind the closed balcony doors, Rainbow heard a muffled shout of 'Go away!' from Twilight.

"Come on Twilight, will you please just hear me out?" She paused for a response that never came. She stomped her hoof, getting mad. "I'm not leaving, Twilight. If I have to I'll break down the door and apologize later. So why not just make this a bit easier on both of us?" She coughed awkwardly. "I brought you a peace offering!"

Rainbow doubted that was what convinced Twilight to yield, but Twilight did open the door. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her mane was a wreck. She didn't look angry. Just miserable. The cyan pegasus felt a surge of guilt. "I, uh, brought you this." She held out the item Applejack had given her and was relieved to see Twilight's eyes light up.

"Smarty Pants! Oh Rainbow Dash, thank you!" She grabbed the stuffed toy and hugged it gleefully to her chest. "I thought I'd never see her again!" She paused. "I-is this some sort of message? About what we said yesterday?"

Rainbow gave her a blank look. "Twilight, it's me. Do you think I'd do something that would include thinking about what it symbolizes?"

"…good point." Twilight admitted after a second. "Sorry."

"S'okay. Can we talk?"

Twilight hesitated "I—"

"You aren't gonna make me leave are you, after I came all this way?" The prismatic pegasus gave her best pout. Sure it wasn't playing fair but she was in this to win. "I promised Applejack we'd talk. Do you know what she'll do to me if she finds out we didn't? You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

Twilight knew when she was being put on, but smiled at the display. "Okay…come on in." She stepped back to let Rainbow Dash into her room. She sat down on the edge of her bed. "You can have a seat here if you want."

"Thanks." Rainbow looked around at Twilight's room, procrastinating for a minute. Finally when she knew she couldn't put it off any longer, she turned to face her friend. The two regarded each other awkwardly, each unsure of what to say.

"I—I wanted to say that I'm sorry; for all the horrible things I said yesterday." Twilight said.

"Same here." Rainbow nodded. "I'm really sorry too."

"I'm glad."

"Me too. We cool?"

"We're cool."

"Good."

"Good."

"…"

"…"

"We're not cool, are we?"

"I don't—no, I don't think we are." Twilight's expression was mournful.

Rainbow sighed. "Look...I came here because I—I wanted to say sorry for all the really horrible things I said yesterday. But…" she paused. Trying to find the right words was always difficult for her, especially in these sorts of situations.

"…but you still feel upset and you feel like if you don't get what's bothering you off your chest, it's like nothing is resolved?" Twilight suggested.

Rainbow nodded eagerly as she joined Twilight on the bed. "Y-yeah. That's exactly it! How did you…oh." She figured it out half a second too late. "D-do you want to start first?"

Twilight bit her lip. "N-no. You first. You've been holding on to this longer."

"Okay." Dash took a deep breath, her wings fidgeting in agitation. "I just…I've thought about it a lot you know; the Mare Do Well thing, I mean. I tried writing that letter for the Princess a couple of times. I know you guys are smart and you were looking out for me and I tried to convince myself that what you guys did was right but…I can't. I just can't. It's not that I didn't trust you-I mean, we saved the world together like, what, two times? Three?" She paused to look at Twilight.

The purple unicorn was nodding, encouraging her to continue. That helped give Rainbow the strength to continue. "So I tried hard to see what it was you were trying to do and…I just keep seeing this, this really awful horrible thing that you did to me. And some part of me is worried that if I tried talking to you about it you'd brush it off as me not wanting to learn my lesson…maybe even doing the whole thing over again. So I kept my muzzle shut and tried to laugh it off, lesson learned and all that but…"

"The way everypony acted just ate at you." Twilight supplied sadly. "You thought everypony had more regard for you than that and finding out that they didn't…it was like a hoof in the face. And the fact that nopony even thought twice about it after it was over was even more upsetting."

Rainbow Dash nodded, saying nothing. She didn't need to. To try to compose herself she took a moment to preen her feathers. When she finished she turned back to Twilight. "Go ahead Twilight. I promise I won't get mad."

Twilight fidgeted, trying to figure out how to begin. "I—I'm sorry I brought up the wedding stuff to you like that. It wasn't fair to use it as a counterargument to something that was upsetting you."

"Hey, I was the one who brought up the Want-It, Need-It spell stuff like that too." Dash argued. "I…I was angry and hurt and wanted to hurt you and…ugh that sounds even more horrible than I originally thought."

"We both said things we regret," Twilight allowed diplomatically. "But what happened before the wedding really upset me. Seeing the five of you, the Princess and my brother just walk past me without a word…I felt like I was alone. Like I had lost everypony and everything that mattered to me!"

Rainbow grimaced. "Yeah…I know what you mean. When Mare Do Well arrived I just…it felt like everypony was turning away from me because somepony newer and better was coming along. And…I wondered just what was wrong with me that everypony could forget about me so fast. Do they just like me for the stuff I can do for them, pushing the clouds around, save a filly from falling down a well and stuff? If somepony else could do that stuff better than me, then…what's the point, you know? What else am I if I'm not the pony doing all the incredibly cool and amazing stuff?"

Twilight nodded. "I wondered why everypony would just brush me aside the moment they met somepony who said she 'loves, loves, loves' what you guys do." Twilight made a face. "Seriously, who even talks like that?"

That prompted a brief snicker from Rainbow. "Princess Luna?"

Twilight giggled. "The love has been doubled!" The two shared a smile that helped ease the tension before Twilight resumed. "I know I'm not pretty like Cadence or wise like Princess Celestia and that I get worked up over small things sometimes…but, I just thought I'd proven myself enough to have ponies trust me when I tell them that something is wrong. But when the time came when I needed you all the most…you weren't there. I needed somepony—anypony!—to be there for me…but none of you were. Not even my brother or the Princess. It made me wonder, not just if I'd been wrong, but if there was something wrong with _me_." Dash nodded understandingly. "That...that was the worst moment of my life. I never felt so alone in my entire life and I can't help feeling…" Twilight's voice trailed off into a murmur, cuddling Smarty Pants close.

"Where were you when I needed you the most?" Rainbow Dash finished. The two looked at each other in understanding.

"Listen, Twilight—"

"Rainbow Dash, I—"

They both started at once, only to fall into an awkward silence. Then, throwing caution to the wind, Rainbow Dash and Twilight embraced each other.

"I'm sorry!" They said at the same time, their voices quivering with emotion.

Rainbow Dash found her voice first. "I'm so sorry for not believing you about Cadence and being a fat-headed jerk!"

"I'm so sorry I went behind your back and came up with Mare Do Well plan like a scheming nag!" Twilight was quick to exclaim, sniffling.

"I'm sorry I called you a jealous nag and said that you only care about pleasing the Princess! You're the greatest friend ever!" Rainbow added, her breath hitching.

Twilight nodded, her own eyes misty. "I'm sorry I said you weren't loyal-there's no pony more loyal than you!"

"I-I'm sorry I called you Twilight Snarkle!" Dash blurted out.

"I—" Twilight was brought up short. "You never called me that."

"I didn't?" Rainbow blinked, then flushed. "Oh, er, I guess I must've thought it then. Sorry."

"That's…actually kinda funny." Twilight snickered. "Don't tell Spike though. He likes to think he's the only one who can come up with clever nicknames."

"Got it," Rainbow nodded. The two shared a brief chuckle before lapsing into an uneasy silence.

It didn't last long before Twilight delicately cleared her throat. She idly traced her hoof on her bed as she worked up the courage to look at Rainbow Dash. "I have to know: if it wasn't for the incident with Smarty Pants and the Want-It, Need-It spell and the false warning from the future…would you have believed me when I tried to warn you there was something wrong in Canterlot?" Rainbow Dash winced and looked down, not saying a word. Her silence spoke volumes. Twilight hung her head. "I thought as much…it _was_ my own fault, then."

Dash snapped her head up. "Hey, wait a minute! Don't say that. Okay, yeah, that stuff might have been on our mind, but everypony makes mistakes. If we went back over every time one of us screwed up we'd never be able to listen to anypony! The truth is we were all just too excited to get to take part in a royal wedding, get to show off our stuff that we didn't want to listen when the one pony who knew the score felt that something was wrong."

"Thanks…" Twilight leaned over and gratefully nuzzled Rainbow Dash. She sighed. "I guess having a snit when I found out my brother was getting married to somepony I didn't even know without talking to me first didn't help, huh?"

The pegasus shrugged. "Eh, that was totally understandable. I mean, he didn't even visit or drop you a letter to say, 'Hey Twilight, guess what? I'm dating your old foalsitter!' before getting hitched? Seriously, no offense, but your brother is a total doofus."

Twilight giggled. "Yeah, he really is!"

The two laughed again. It felt good. Rainbow felt like she was in a good place for the first time in what felt like a long time. "Sorry for not listening to you…at the wedding rehearsal and back when you were fretting about that friendship report too."

Twilight shook her head. "It's okay…in the state of mind I was in; I don't think I would've listened to anything you guys had to say anyway." She paused. "And I'm sorry for singling you out over all this; and for saying that you weren't loyal. You're the most loyal pony in all of Equestria…and you have a right to expect some loyalty from us in return. I'm sorry about Mare Do Well."

"Yeah…" Dash sighed. "I guess I must've been pretty obnoxious for you guys to resort to that."

Again, Twilight shook her head. "No…well, yeah, you were but how we went about dealing with it wasn't right. When you were boasting so much about how great you were, well, I think we fell for it too." She took a deep breath and hugged Smarty Pants again. "I think we forgot that you were a pony with regular feelings and so we went and did this…completely irregular thing thinking that you would just take it as a lesson when it was over and move on."

She reached out and put her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, making sure she caught her eye as she went on. "As much as we hated your bragging, what we did was single your behavior out with a method that we would never have tried on anypony else. We wanted you to stop acting like you were so special, so better than anypony else…but all we did was to treat you in a way we never treated any other pony and made you think that you weren't special at all. Aside from being a wrong lesson, it was just mean. I'm sorry."

"S'okay," the pegasus sighed. Then she paused. "Huh. You know what? I think it actually might be. I mean, I was just saying that cuz that's what you say but…I think I meant it."

Twilight chuckled. "I know what you mean." She smiled. Her face furrowed as a thought crossed her mind. "Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"If we're okay…but what about the rest of our friends? Ugh, I feel awful for what I said to Applejack. I was afraid that they'd just dismiss what I had to say because I was upset or that they'd think I was just bringing up old wounds to hurt you."

Rainbow nodded. "I said something dumb about how I thought they would just side with you no matter what." She stretched out her wings. "I think we should just go talk to them: together. I mean, if we can work it through after all that crud we said to each other the nothing can break us apart!"

"You're right!" Twilight smiled. "Come on…let's go see our friends."

Rainbow Dash and Twilight walked out of the library together. The rest of their friends—Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike—were outside waiting for them. The pair didn't manage to get out a single word before being crushed in a mammoth group hug. But that was okay.

No words were needed.

& & &

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_Having friends is a wonderful experience. However, even the most well-meaning friend can do something that hurts you, and that feels worse than anything else in the world. But you aren't doing yourself or your friends any favors by hiding what you're really feeling. Burying your feelings just leads to them building up and eventually exploding._

_If your friendship is strong, then it can survive being mad at your friends once in a while-especially when you realize that your friends never intended to hurt you. A strong friendship can withstand anything, especially you trust each other with what yo_

_u're really feeling._

_Sincerely,_  
_Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash_

The two ponies smiled as they signed their names. Twilight levitated the scroll over to Spike, who sent it off to the Princess with a puff of magic fire. It was later that evening and the seven of them were enjoying a night time picnic out by the gazebo. At Twilight's suggestion they lit a bonfire to roast snacks and tell stories around.

Pinkie Pie had gone all out making treats and snacks for everypony (and dragon). During the evening everypony found a moment to speak to Twilight or Rainbow alone and apologize for their role in the Mare Do Well scheme or the wedding fiasco.

Afterwards, everypony gathered around and started a campfire to roast marshmallows. Applejack and Rarity bickered in a friendly manner of the correct way to make smores (greedily guzzled down by Spike) while Pinkie Pie entertained Fluttershy with all the shadow puppets she could make with her hooves.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight sat together, enjoying each other's closeness. Not a word was spoken, but much was still exchanged. Twilight got up and walked over to the bonfire. Using her magic she stoked the fire and added some more fuel. Then she walked back to Rainbow as the two smiled and went back to join their friends.

Behind them, the last threads of the Mare Do Well costume were consumed by the flames.

& & &

**THE END**

**THE END**

**A/N: Aaaaand done! Been wanting to write something about the "Mysterious Mare Do Well" ever since the episode aired. Now I think I've finally done something that does justice to it.**

**Special thanks to Comma-Kazie, Chengar Qordath, RainbowDoubleDash (of FIM Fiction), and Asuraludu (of FurAffinity) for pre- and proof-reading and a lot of aid and inspiration for this. Massive props Bros. Additional thanks to Comma-Kazie for suggesting the title 'Friendship is Empathy' and for reworking the final line.**


End file.
